Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Just got my Epic 80 7.1 and I'm underwhelmed

Attn prospective buyers:

Maybe it was years of waiting and I built it up in my mind to be something more fantastic than it really could ever be, but right now I'm a bit disappointed in my new Epic 80 7.1 setup.

Delivery took a couple days longer than I expected (FedEx tracking was worthless and it came on the wrong day from what it said-- they should use UPS), and the boxes were totally trashed. Right out the box I noticed, that despite good efforts at packaging, the M80's had dings in the corners as did the EP500. Upon closer inspection I found that about 4" of the foam surrounding the driver cone wasn't glued down. Overall I think the build quality is very impressive, but I think the guy in quality control was asleep on the job the day my speakers were built.

Axiom very quickly, and graciously, has sent me out a new driver for the EP500. So they win the award for great customer service.

The supplied wall mount brackets for the Q's were a bit poorly designed in a "T" shape. Basically it requires you to mount the "T" on to a wall stud, which is fine. But then the arms of the "T" flex off the wall when you hang the speaker. If you pull down on the speaker it bends, and I would assume that over time they would bend naturally since they are thin gauage steel. This means you have to put drywall anchors in and screw the entire "T" to the wall with no less than 5 screws. On the other hand the "FULL METAL BRACKET" is exceptionally well designed and works fantastically. Although the screws it came with were cheap and the heads stripped out... I replaced them with some standard drywall screw with good results. Additional note, when using the "T" bracket you can't use banana plugs because the terminals aren't recessed far enough.

After about 5 hours of careful setup I had the system going and turned it up to a decent volume and put in my BluRay copy of Spiderman with the Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 sound track and was waiting for the pictures to fall off the wall. But alas, a small vibration was all I had to show for my efforts. It sounded good, but for a speaker setup that cost literally 10 times what my old ones did I wasn't 10X impressed. Maybe my Pioneer elite 94TXH isn't powerful enough or maybe my theater is too big (likely) for a single EP500? Hopefully with more break-in and additional tweaks I can make some pictures fall off the wall and finely be happy. Otherwise I think an additonal EP500 is in my future.

Its still to early to say how the other speakers in the system hold up to close scrutiny, but right now I feel the $2000 spent on the 94TXH was a better investment than the new speakers.

jwright350,

First off, welcome to the forum. Your frustration is entirely understandable. Many of us have received damaged packages that seem as if FedEx used them for warehouse bowling. (I've received similarly damaged packages from UPS as well.) From what I can recall, most of us haven't actually received damaged speakers and found the packaging to be sufficient to fend off the perils of shipment.

I also find it hard to believe that Axiom would have packed a damaged speaker. The driver damage you saw could have happened during shipping. I am not surprised in the least that they were quick to remedy that situation, though.

I agree that the T brackets are a bit flimsy, but they are designed with holes on the wings for a reason. I would never consider mounting them without securing the wings to the wall. I used four screws, myself -- one on each end of the horizontal section, and two at the ends of the vertical section. The Full Metal Brackets do put them to shame, however.

How large is your room? The EP500 can definitely output clean bass in large rooms, but if you want a gut-punching effect, you may have to double up. It's a matter of physics.

Hopefully, as your brain breaks in to the new sound, you'll find the nuances of music and films are coming through much better. It's totally fine if you determine that the Axiom sound is not for you. Everyone is different.

I used regular drywall screws for the extra holes on the T bracket.. holds my QS speakers just fine

Welcome to the forum, wow, I am sorry you are not having a good experience.

Fed Ex or UPS makes no difference, enough people have had bad things to say about either one as Axiom does use both for US deliveries.

Everyone I know of has had no problems with the 'T' bracket just screw in the center to a stud. It is also a known issue that banana plugs will not work with the QS and 'T' bracket.

So far as the sub goes, I trust when you say carefull set up that was with an SPL meter and the sub is set to the same levels or 3-4 db higher than the rest of the system.

Just how big is your HT room?

Um.... Welcome????

Just some comments, as of course we don't know anything about your room setup, etc, but the M80 fronts alone are enough to rattle your house with great precision and clarity, so something isn't right there.

Also, you mention that FedEx took longer, didn't provide valid tracking, and "totally trashed" the boxes. Not sure how that is Axiom's fault, but you are welcome to vent about it. I would certainly say that shipping damage could be causing you other problems.

As for the brackets for the Q's, I've never seen a problem with them. I mean, if they are properly mounted to the wall, there is no way that the top left and right of the "T" can bend. While putting some screws into a stud for the vertical part of the "T" does work, there are additional holes there for a reason. Use them.

Lastly, have you actually done the "sub crawl" or other real calibrations with the speakers and your receiver. Again, you should be blown away, and if you aren't, something is wrong with your setup somewhere. This is not meant as an insult, but just a question for what "careful setup" you did, and a statement that this experience isn't normal by any means.


EDIT: I apologize in advance for sounding harsh, and I also see that others here have some of the same questions I do, but beat me to the "submit reply" button. Just provide us some feedback, and we'll get you squared away and working properly.

Welcome to the forum jwright.

Sounds like you have had a rough start. Axiom will take care of any in transit speaker dammage, including dents nicks etc. You've already experienced their excellent customer service.

Those brackets are not meant to be secured only at the center. Look at the pictures in the mounting instructions. There are screw mounting holes at 3 places on the main part and two on each arm of the T. Put a few more screws in and you will be just fine. I only used two for the main part and one on each arm and they are plenty secure (though in my case all screws are into solid wood).

The ep500 should be able to rattle you plenty in a big room. How did you calibrate spl levels on your speakers and sub? Have you tried moving the sub around in the room, or even better, did you do the sub crawl?

Hang in there and lets see if we can help you get your sub/speakers dialed in.

Well it's about 22' X 36' X 8'. 1/2 is theater and the other 1/2 is a "bar" area. So its got a lot of air to move.

One thing that definitely impressed me about the EP500 was found in playing with the THX setup on a Star Wars DVD. I had already setup my receiver using its automated setup (i know, i know I need an SPL meter to do it right) but I thought it would be fun to see if it matched up to the THX stuff on this DVD. I went to the subwoofer cross over test where it sweeps from 200Hz to some down low frequency. It started off with a normal test tone and then went silent, at that same point though the glasses in my bar started to buzz as if some mysterious force was shaking them. Of course it was just the EP 500 showing off its low frequency response with some unaudable frequency...but it was still pretty cool.

I think you picked good word "nuance" because I'm certainly appreciating all the new wonderful sounds that my cheap old speakers couldn't reproduce. Overall I'm very happy with the other speakers in the system, but its pretty early to get too excited about them since I haven't even gotten any 7.1 audio pumped through them yet.

Time will tell. Perhaps I'll post some pictures so you guys can give me some feedback about how I have the room setup.

Holy handgernaids Batman, its the 5:00 crowd!

Where's the sub crossover set (both in the receiver and on the sub itself)?

Do double check that all of the drivers in the M80s are operating (stick yer ear up against them). If the woofers aren't going, then check the straps on the binding posts.

I have to agree with everyone else about the T brackets--they work quite well if you use them properly--and you don't really need banana plugs on your surrounds if you're not going to be swapping them out all the time.

Receiver is at 80, sub is at 100. I've tried adjusting the phase, level and trim as well

You want to know why I think so highly of the full metal bracket... this is good. after installing it, I stood up underneath it on my top riser and about knocked myself out when it tried to penetrate my skull. Those things are stout! But the t-bracket... I only did the 3 vertical screws (didn't have any drywall anchors handy) and had to catch the surround speaker from falling when, after a slight tug down to test the strength, it bent the bracket and slipped off.

Oh yeah, the other thing that bugged me... I was expecting some cool free stuff with my order of $4,000. Like maybe a t-shirt, hat or sign I could hang on the wall and show off my goods. They need work on that!